Ebony Thomas
also known as Ebony Bones!
is a British singer-songwriter, record producer and actress. Prior to writing and producing her critically acclaimed debut album Bone Of My Bones
, Ebony Bones was booked and performing globally before having released any records. Named one of the 40 Men And Women Who Make London
by Time Out for their 40th Anniversary edition and performing live for Rolling Stone Magazine, Ebony Bones!
was recently
named one of South by Southwest's best new acts of 2009.
Bones' self released 7" single We Know All About U
depicting scenes of an Orwellian Britain, made an immediate impact through word of mouth. Making its radio debut as "Hottest Record In The World Today" as well as "Single Of The Week" by BBC Radio 1's Zane Lowe, it also received daytime play, becoming Radio 1's most played single by an unsigned artist.
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EBONY BONES TICKETS
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Acting
Different sources suggest a birth year of 1985, 1983 or 1987. Her family have commented that her birthday is in February, but would not confirm the year because she believes age is irrelevant.
It's known that Ebony began her career at the age of 12, when she was spotted by
BAFTA award winning actor and Artistic Director of
Shakespeare's Globe Theatre
Mark Rylance, for his production of
Macbeth also starring actress Jane Horrocks. Known for playing the role of resident "glamour puss"
Yasmin McHugh on the
five TV drama
Family Affairs
from 1998 until 2005. She was one of the programme's youngest, longest-serving and most popular cast members, known for both her own and her character's
fashion sense. In 2002, 2003 and 2004, Ebony was nominated for The British Soap Awards
Sexiest female
. In 2004 and 2005, Thomas was nominated for
The British Soap Awards "Best Comedy Actor".
EBONY BONES!
A self-taught musician performing under the stage name
Ebony Bones!
in 2007, she anonymously uploaded music onto a blank
myspace page. Writing, producing, her own material and playing her own
instruments.
Created in her bedroom using beer bottles, woks and pans for percussion, Bones' self released 7" single
We Know All About U
depicting scenes of an
Orwellian Britain, made an immediate impact through word of mouth. Making its radio debut as "The Hottest Record In The World Today" as well as "Single Of The Week" by
BBC Radio 1's
Zane Lowe it also received daytime play from
Jo Whiley, becoming Radio 1's most played single by an unsigned artist. The track was also used for
BBC Radio 1 TV commercial, "In New Music We Trust". Spelt normally in capitals with an explanation mark, Ebony Bones! next limited edition 7" single "Don't Fart On My Heart" also became Radio 1's "Single Of The Week" and "The Hottest Record In The World Today" on the Zane Lowe Show, with the award winning video named
Best Video
by The
British Council for the
Onedotzero Festival.
Appearing in publications such as
Rolling Stone
,
Vogue
,
NME
,
Q
,
The Guardian
,
The Observer
,
i-D, and
Entertainment Weekly
, she has also graced the covers of French lifestyle magazine
Telerama three times,
Tsugi, Japan's
Eyescream
, as well as German music magazine
De:Bug
.
Noted for her sense of fashion, and antics during live shows, Ebony Bones! performed her first tour supporting
The Slits and performed live for
Massive Attack's
Meltdown (festival) at The
Royal Festival Hall, appearing at the 2007
Glastonbury Festival and again in 2008 headlined by
Jay-Z.
Booked in the U.S before having released any records, Bones made her debut in the summer of 2008 performing live in
New York at the
Barack Obama concert held at The
McCarren Park Pool. She ended 2008 with a live performance at
Transmusicales Festival in
Rennes,
Bone of My Bones (2009)
Producing and arranging her critically acclaimed debut album
Bone Of My Bones
, taken from a biblical reference from the
Book of Genesis, Ebony Bones! also performs drums, guitar, bass, strings, organs and percussion on the album.
In a recent Myspace posting Ebony confessed:
“Making the decision to produce, arrange and write this collective of work I guess was a brave one. Brave or dumb. But its a reflection of my personality…as fragmented as it might be. This debut album is about Audacity. Having the Audacity to step outside the circumferences of what you’ve been expected to be in life, despite the rules.. or what the book says. Chances are I’ll only have this audacity whilst I’m young, so I might as well use it..”
Bones and her seven piece live band, whose line up has included close friends of the singer (including
The Damned drummer Rat Scabbies) were recently named one of
South by Southwest's best new acts of 2009. Showcasing for
Rolling Stone Magazine in
Austin, Texas she performed "W.A.R.R.I.O.R" and other new songs from the release, receiving a response described as "phenomenal".
Displaying politically themed subjects exemplified by songs such as
"In G.O.D We Trust (Gold, Oil & Drugs)"
,
"We Know All About U"
and
"Story Of St.Ockwell"
referencing the police shooting of
Jean Charles de Menezes, her SXSW performance was quoted by US music critic Greg Kot as "dynamic". She was quickly snapped up to perform for other music festivals shortly after, including
Fuji Rock Festival in Japan,
Sonar in Spain and
Rock En Seine in Paris.
Designing her band's stage costumes, Bones is known to ceremoniously paint a signature
unibrow on each female member of her band, as homage to her favorite artist
Frida Kahlo.
In April 2009,
MTV News in New York announced the release of her anticipated debut Bone Of My Bones and previewed the US exclusive of her music video for The Muzik. Starring fans across the world, she is said to have been inspired by the idea of "an abstract collaboration with a collective of like-minded individuals all galvanized by music". The video is represented by 30 different directors from all across the globe, armed with nothing more than a camera phone or digi-cam and a lot of imagination. The Muzik quickly received daytime play on
BBC Radio 1.
The debut album unreleased as yet in the US and UK, was released in Japan mid June 2009, impressively entering Top 10 in the
iTunes album charts.
Making her third festival appearance at
Glastonbury in 2009, Ebony performed on the Queen's Head Stage for
Q Magazine as well as
The Guardian Lounge Stage. A week later she and 11 band members miraculously escaped a fire, when her tour bus mysteriously engulfed into a ball of flames whilst on the motorway. Despite loosing all instruments and equipment, Ebony and her band members performed live alongside
The Prodigy and
Madness on the mainstage
Exit Festival in
Serbia the following day. Leaving on tour for Japan and the States, she headlined the legendary
Bowery Ballroom in
New York.
Curated by
Damon Albarn, Bones performed live at Africa Express on August the 5th. A free show in the center of Paris attended by 15,000 people, she performed in a sequined banana skirt in homage to
Josephine Baker.
Blood Is The New Black (2010)
Recording in
Mumbai, Ebony is rumoured to begin work on her follow up album early 2010 with the
Symphony Orchestra of India, documented in a
rockumentary style film featuring live concert footage called
Blood Is The New Black
.